The 1985 Puerto Rico floods produced the deadliest single
landslide on record in North America, killing at least 130 people in the Mameyes neighborhood of barrio
Portugués Urbano
Portugués Urbano is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Canas Urbano, Machuelo Abajo, Magueyes Urbano, and San Antón, Portugués Urbano is one of the municipality's five originally rural barrios tha ...
in
Ponce. The floods were the result of a westward-moving
tropical wave that emerged off the coast of Africa on September 29. The system moved into the Caribbean Sea on October 5 and produced torrential rainfall across Puerto Rico, peaking at in
Toro Negro State Forest
Toro Negro State Forest (Spanish: ''Bosque Estatal de Toro Negro'') is one of the 21 forests that make up the public forests system in Puerto Rico. It is also Puerto Rico's highest cloud forest. It is in the Cordillera Central region of the is ...
. Two stations broke their 24-hour rainfall records set in 1899. The rains caused severe flooding in the southern half of Puerto Rico, which isolated towns, washed out roads, and caused rivers to exceed their banks. In addition to the deadly landslide in Mameyes, the floods washed out a bridge in
Santa Isabel that killed several people. The storm system caused about $125 million in damage and 180 deaths, which prompted a presidential disaster declaration. The tropical wave later spawned
Tropical Storm Isabel.
Meteorological history
![Isabel 1985 Puerto Rico rainfall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Isabel_1985_Puerto_Rico_rainfall.gif)
The
tropical wave that caused the flooding moved off the west coast of Africa on September 29. Moving westward, the system entered the eastern
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...
on October 5,
although rainfall began spreading across Puerto Rico the day prior.
The wave's associated
convection
Convection is single or multiphase fluid flow that occurs spontaneously due to the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoyancy). When the cause of the conve ...
, or thunderstorms, were amplified by an upper-level trough to its west.
It was
developing into a tropical cyclone while it moved across Puerto Rico. When the system's rainbands reached the mountains of southern Puerto Rico, it produced torrential rainfall, and additional precipitation occurred owing to the system's slow movement.
The most intense rainfall occurred on October 6, and on that day two stations recorded 24-hour precipitation totals exceeding . These totals broke the 24-hour rainfall records set during the
1899 San Ciriaco hurricane
The 1899 San Ciríaco hurricane, also known as the 1899 Puerto Rico Hurricane or The Great Bahamas Hurricane of 1899, was the longest-lived Atlantic hurricane on record, and the second-longest-lived tropical cyclone globally on record (in terms ...
,
and amounted to nearly half of the annual precipitation totals.
The town of
Peñuelas reported very high rainfall totals in a short amount of time, including in one hour and in two hours.
The highest rainfall total on Puerto Rico was in
Toro Negro State Forest
Toro Negro State Forest (Spanish: ''Bosque Estatal de Toro Negro'') is one of the 21 forests that make up the public forests system in Puerto Rico. It is also Puerto Rico's highest cloud forest. It is in the Cordillera Central region of the is ...
. Rainfall spread across the island, and the southern half of Puerto Rico experienced totals of over . Rainfall totals over spread across the
United States Virgin Islands
The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...
.
The tropical wave later spawned a
low pressure area
In meteorology, a low-pressure area, low area or low is a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of surrounding locations. Low-pressure areas are commonly associated with inclement weather (such as cloudy, windy, with possible ...
north of
Hispaniola that became
Tropical Storm Isabel on October 7,
a day before the rains subsided in Puerto Rico.
The storm ultimately struck Florida before dissipating on October 15.
Impact
Across Puerto Rico, heavy rains from the weather system caused river flooding and landslides. The rains most significantly affected the
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
of
Ponce,
Juana Díaz,
Santa Isabel, and
Coamo
Coamo (, ) is a town and municipality founded in 1579 in the south-central region of Puerto Rico, located north of Santa Isabel; south of Orocovis and Barranquitas; east of Villalba and Juana Díaz; and west of Aibonito and Salinas. Coamo ...
.
Several stations reported
100 year flooding, just five months after similar floods affected the island. The floods in May generally affected the northern portion of the island, and the October event generally affected southern Puerto Rico, although the town of
Barceloneta experienced floods in both events. Several rivers exceeded their banks, and the
Toa Vaca reservoir filled to its capacity for the second time since it was constructed in 1972.
A flooded creek in Quebrada del Agua, near Ponce, killed 16 people. Flooding washed away the westbound bridge over the
Río Coamo
The Coamo River ( es, Río Coamo) is a river in southern Puerto Rico. It runs for approximately 24 miles or 38 kilometers through the municipalities of Coamo and Santa Isabel, where it empties into the Caribbean Sea at Coamo Bay in Boca Velázqu ...
near Santa Isabel along
San Juan–Ponce highway. At least six cars drove into an unlit gap in the road, killing 29 people.
Four of the deaths were police officers who were trying to rescue a family from a car that was washed away.
At least six bridges were washed out across the island.
The floods left about 32,000 people without power, and some towns were isolated.
The floods shut down 11 water filtration plants and 13 sewage treatment plants, which left 16 municipalities temporarily without water.
Across Puerto Rico, the floods damaged 1,700 houses and destroyed another 1,300.
About 50,000 people had to leave their houses for shelter across Puerto Rico. Damage was estimated at $125 million (1985 USD), and throughout the territory, the floods killed 180 people, 150 of whom lived in Ponce.
Officials considered the system to be the "worst disaster" on the island since
Hurricane Donna
Hurricane Donna, known in Puerto Rico as Hurricane San Lorenzo, was the strongest hurricane of the 1960 Atlantic hurricane season, and caused severe damage to the Lesser Antilles, the Greater Antilles, and the East Coast of the United States, e ...
in 1960.
Two landslides occurred near Peñuelas, collectively damaging or destroying 13 buildings.
Barrio Mameyes
![Mameyes](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Mameyes.jpg)
Saturated soils caused mudslides throughout Puerto Rico, although only one resulted in loss of life.
In the hillside community of
Mameyes, within Ponce, there was a
block slide at around 3:00 am
local time
Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...
on October 7.
A large slab of
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
detached from a hill, moving about of material down the hill.
The intense rainfall triggered the landslide, although pre-existing conditions such as a leaking water main and poor sewage flow likely contributed to the event.
The landslide destroyed about 90 houses, killing about 130 people;
however, the death toll could have been as high as 300.
This made it the deadliest single landslide on record in North America. Many of the homes in Mameyes were poorly built with tin and wood materials, and some were built on stilts.
Aftermath
On October 7, Puerto Rico's governor
Rafael Hernández Colón
Rafael Hernández Colón (October 24, 1936 – May 2, 2019) was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1973 to 1977 and 1985 to 1993 for a total of three terms. An experienced politician, Hernández held the ...
declared an islandwide state of emergency and activated 300
National Guardsmen to assist in search and rescue operations. Governor Colón sought "technical advice" from Mexico, as the country had experienced a
devastating earthquake two weeks prior.
The
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...
flew helicopters into flooded areas to rescue stranded residents, including 18 people along a hill in the western portion of the island.
About $10 million in emergency funds was allocated by Puerto Rico's legislature,
of which $1 million was distributed among the most affected families with $300 checks. The
American Red Cross deployed a team of 15 people to Puerto Rico, who specialized in damage assessment, health services, or other services.
After the storm, the Puerto Rico's government created a Rainfall-Runoff Alert Network, designed to predict flash flooding in advance, in conjunction with the
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...
, the
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
, and the territory's Department of Natural Resources.
On October 10, United States president Ronald Reagan declared 33 municipalities across Puerto Rico as disaster area. This allocated federal funding for assistance to individual families and public aid to repair public facilities.
Federal Emergency Management Agency
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Ex ...
ultimately provided $63 million in aid to the territory.
Puerto Ricans living in the United States raised money and collected donations for the residents on the island.
Governor Colón considered turning the Mameyes neighborhood into a
common grave to prevent the spread of disease outbreak. As a result, the National Guard evacuated the town, although the governor changed his mind after public outcry. Initially, a death toll of 500 people was reported, although that was "the product of the original, collective hysteria," according to the mayor of Ponce's press officer. Additionally, the number of destroyed houses was overestimated, only to be revised downward owing to before-and-after satellite images and interviews with survivors. After the Mameyes landslide, about 150 people, including National Guardsmen, worked to locate bodies with the assistance of six rescue dogs.
Rescue workers also recovered 23 bodies from the collapsed bridge near Coamo.
On October 13, officials halted the search for any survivors of the landslide, although workers continued to look for storm victims. On October 22, Governor Colón ordered the teams to stop searching for bodies after officials determined that there was a threat of further landslides. Workers initially had difficulty assisting the affected families due to the occurrence in early morning and the continued intensity of the rain, and as a result, only 50 bodies were recovered.
Many houses around the Mameyes landslide were later demolished as they were at risk for further landslides.
Governor Hernández Colón announced that a memorial would be created for the Mameyes victims at the site.
Originally the memorial was known as "el Parque de la Recordación del Barrio Mameyes", literally "Park of the Remembrance of the Neighborhood Mameyes" in English. In 2011, however, residents of Ponce successfully petitioned to change the name from a park to a memorial site.
Despite the high amount deaths in
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
floods, the name, "Isabel" was not retired, but was retired in the
2003 Atlantic hurricane season
The 2003 Atlantic hurricane season was a highly active Atlantic hurricane season with tropical cyclone, tropical activity before and after the official bounds of the season—the first such occurrence since the 1970 Atlantic hurricane season, 19 ...
.
Children's drawings
Three days before the Mameyes landslide, a group of children from a nearby
Head Start school were asked by their teacher to draw "whatever came to their minds". Several of them made drawings that some people see as premonitions of the disaster. Several of the drawings featured crosses, and dark earth-like colors. Some of the children died in the landslide. The drawings were handed by an unidentified teacher to Gladys Torres, administrator of public documents and Director of the Historic Archive of Ponce. They are exhibited in the Ponce Museum of History.
See also
*
2015 El Cambray Dos landslide
Notes
References
{{reflist, 33em
1985 meteorology
Floods in the United States
Natural disasters in Puerto Rico
1985 in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico floods 1985
1985 natural disasters in the United States
Puerto Rico floods